From Group Selection to "Evolutionary Economics"

Name: From Group Selection to "Evolutionary Economics"
Start: 2017-08-20T16:00:00-04:00
End: 2017-08-20T18:00:00-04:00
Location: Washington Square

Hosted By

Brian B.

From Group Selection to "Evolutionary Economics"

Details

The weather forecast for Sunday looks good, so I've scheduled our meetup for Washington Square Park again, between 6th & 7th Streets on Walnut in Olde City. Although it'll be in the low 80s, there's plenty of shaded areas in the park. If you don't want to sit on the grass, just bring a folding chair or picnic blanket to sit on. You can also bring any type of food or drink you want, although I don't think alcohol is allowed in the park.

(If the weather changes, our fallback spot will be Café Walnut, which is right off the square at 703 Walnut Street.)

The park is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 1 block west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

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This meetup will provide an introduction to the debates over "group selection" (a.k.a. "multilevel selection") that have raged among evolutionary biologists for the past decade or so, as well as the attempt by the biologist David Sloan Wilson (at his blog Evonomics) & the economist Robert H. Frank (in his book The Darwin Economy ) to use evolutionary theory -- in particular, their ideas about altruism, inefficient competition & group selection -- to revolutionize the field of economics. We'll also examine some of Michael Shermer's claims from his book The Mind of the Market about incorporating evolutionary principles into economics, and how he draws libertarian / free market conclusions from this while Robert Frank draws more communitarian / social-democratic conclusions.

The videos you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of the major points in these debates among both scientists & economists. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to watch all the videos & read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the videos linked first under each topic, which come to about 37 minutes total. The articles are there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the 4 topics in the order presented here and we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

THE DEBATE OVER THE EVOLUTION OF ALTRUISM & "GROUP SELECTION": ASIDE FROM KIN SELECTION, ARE THERE OTHER EVOLUTIONARY FACTORS THAT CAN PROMOTE ALTRUISTIC BEHAVIORS? DOES NATURAL SELECTION ACT ON MULTIPLE LEVELS (THE GENE, THE ORGANISM, THE GROUP)?

1a) Jules Suzdaltsev, "The Selfish Reason Animals Risk Their Lives For Others" (video - 3:22 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uVWB2c4dgU

Peter Railton, "Moral Camouflage or Moral Monkeys?" (short article)

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/moral-camouflage-or-moral-monkeys/

1b) Robert Sapolsky, "Group selection and multi-level selection" (video - 5:39 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWFCLtg6C0M

Steven Pinker, "The False Allure of Group Selection" (long article)

https://www.edge.org/conversation/the-false-allure-of-group-selection

Leonard Finkelman, "Enjoying natural selection on multiple levels" (medium-length blog post)

http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2012/06/enjoying-natural-selection-on-multiple.html

WHAT CAN MONKEY STUDIES TELL US ABOUT HOW INCOME INEQUALITY PROVOKES "SPITE"? HOW DO GAME THEORY MODELS HELP EXPLAIN THE EVOLUTIONARY FUNCTION OF SPITEFUL BEHAVIOR?

Frans de Waal, "Two Monkeys Were Paid Unequally" (video - 2:43 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiU6TxysCg

Jason Collins, "Monkey Inequality" (short blog post)

https://jasoncollins.org/2011/11/12/monkey-inequality/

Natalie Angier, "Spite Is Good. Spite Works." (short article)

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/01/science/spite-is-good-spite-works.html

HOW DO EVOLUTIONARY ARMS RACES LEAD TO A DIVERGENCE BETWEEN COLLECTIVE & INDIVIDUAL INCENTIVES (A.K.A. "DARWIN'S WEDGE")? ARE MARKET FAILURES CAUSED BY THE RACE FOR POSITIONAL GOODS, AND COULD THIS BE PREVENTED WITH A PROGRESSIVE CONSUMPTION TAX?

Robert Frank, "The Darwin Economy" (video - 5:08 min, start at 0:30)

https://youtu.be/Ll8GFIuXuhI?t=30

John Whitfield, "Libertarians With Antlers. What Robert H. Frank's The Darwin Economy Gets Wrong About Evolution" (medium-length article)

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2011/09/libertarians_with_antlers.html

Andrew Kashdan & Daniel Klein, "Assume the Positional: Comment on Robert Frank" (research paper abstract)
https://econjwatch.org/articles/assume-the-positional-comment-on-robert-frank

EVALUATING "EVONOMICS" - CAN SYSTEM DYNAMICS GLEANED FROM EVOLUTIONARY THEORY REVOLUTIONIZE ECONOMICS? WOULD AN ECONOMY THAT INCLUDED MORE INSIGHTS FROM EVOLUTIONARY THEORY BE MORE LIBERTARIAN OR MORE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC?